Reactivate License

NCache License needs to be re-activated on an already activated machine in two cases:

Increase in the number of cores
License period expiry

Core Change:

The minimum number of licenses required is 2, whether the machine has 1 core or 8. However after 8 cores, the number of licenses is incremented by every 4 cores added.

In case you increase the number of cores (on an activated machine) to a number where the requirement for an additional license becomes valid, you need to reactivate your license.

License Period Expiry:

In case of Subscription based licensing, the customer is notified 60 days before the license period ends. NCache provides with an auto-renewal feature for the license which will check for any next subscription so that the user gets his license reactivated for the next period (i.e. the next year after license expiration) automatically.

Auto-renewal is ON by default and is tried by NCache service on all cache servers as well as clients 60 days before the license expiration.

If the user no more wants to continue using same machine in the next subscription period, he can manually turn off the auto-renewal requests. In order to disable auto-renewal, set the auto-renewal flag FALSE in Alachisoft.NCache.Service.exe.config placed in %NCHOME%/bin/service. The following command switches off auto-renewal of license for any machine:

<add key="NCacheServer.AutoRenewal" value="False"/>

In case of manual activation or if auto-renewal is disabled, the user gets WARNING messages in Event Logs.

Note

Auto renewal starts 60 days before expiry.
Manual renewal can be done at any time.

If the request for auto-renewal fails after the grace period ends, the user needs to manually re-new NCache license. In order to re-new the license:

Purchase a new license period against same license key. Contact Alachisoft Sales for this.
Once new license period is purchased, reactivate your machines using NActivate tool.

You can reactivate your license using the license key obtained from Alachisoft. NCache provides two ways to reactivate your license:

Windows GUI tool NActivateWizard.exe
Command line tool NActivate.exe

Windows GUI Reactivation

Go to directory %NCHOME%/bin/NActivate.
Right-click on NActivateWizard.exe and select Run as Administrator.
Select Reactivate NCache License and click Next.

The following Licensing screen appears if you are using Windows platform:

In case you are using Virtual Machine, the same screen will be displayed, but with the message "Operating System is installed on an emulated hardware profile like VMWare, Hyper-V etc".

Click Next.
The next dialog box shows two modes for reactivation – Online and Manual.

Online Activation

Online activation is the fastest way to activate but requires that your machine has Internet access.

Enter the required information in this form. License Key, First Name, Last Name and Email are compulsory fields. Click Next.

In the next dialog, click Activate Now. Your license will be activated and you will be prompted with a success message as follows:

Click Finish to exit NCache License Manager.

If the license is not activated, it will display an error message. License activation can fail for a number of reasons:

Your firewall does not allow HTTP POST from Activation Program to the Alachisoft License Server.
You do not have Internet access.
Your license key is invalid.
You have already used up the purchased CPUs or nodes. If this happens, then please review your NCache license usage and then contact Alachisoft Sales.

Manual Activation

Manual activation requires generating an activation request code and sending it to Alachisoft Sales to receive the activation authentication key from Alachisoft.

Select Manual and click Next.

The following dialog box shows two options.
- If you do not have the activation code, check Step1 - Generate activation code info. Step 2 is explained later.
- If you already have the activation code, check Step2 - Proceed with activation.
Click Next.

In the next dialog, enter the required information in this form. License Key, First Name, Last Name and Email are compulsory fields. Click Next.

A screen showing a long encrypted text appears.

Copy this code and click Finish. This text is used to obtain the Activation Authentication Key. You can do this two ways:

Method 1: Get Key from Alachisoft Sales

Email this code to Alachisoft Sales at sales@alachisoft.com.
You will receive the Activation Authentication key from Alachisoft Sales. Save this key as it is to be used in the proceeding steps.

Method 2: Get Key via NCache Email Activation

On your web browser, open the following page:
http://app.alachisoft.com/admin/customer_console/main.php
Enter your license key obtained from Alachisoft upon purchase of NCache and click Find.
The next page shows license details and related information. Click on the Activate NCache link.
Paste the Activation Request Code into the text box on this page and click Verify.
This opens up the Activation Data Verification page, which shows Product information, User Information and Machine Information.
Once you have verified that the information is correct, click on the Activate! button at the bottom of the page.
This opens up the Activation Result page, showing the Generated Authentication Key. Save this key as it is to be used in the proceeding steps.
Open NActivateWizard.exe and select Activate Purchased License Key -> Next -> Next -> Step 2 - Proceed with activation.

Enter the Generated Authentication Key you copied from the browser and click Finish.

You are prompted with a success message.

Command Line Reactivation

Online Reactivation

Search for "Command Prompt" on Windows Start menu, right-click on the search result and select Run as Administrator.
Through command line, go to directory %NCHOME%/bin/NActivate.
Execute the following command, where the license key (you got upon purchasing NCache from Alachisoft) is provided with the /k parameter. Note that the first name, last name and email address are compulsory parameters, and /r denotes reactivation mode.
```
nactivate /r /k XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXXXX /f John /l Smith /e john@alachisoft.com
```
On successful activation of license, you are prompted with a success message Thank you for registering your copy of NCache.

Manual Reactivation